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A Modular Snake Robot

Posted by kdawson on from the snakes-in-a-pipe dept.

StCredZero writes "Researchers at CMU are working on a Modular Snake Robot. A video from this site is up on YouTube. In addition to being able to traverse a wide variety of terrain, the robot can also climb poles, the inside of pipes and conduits, small grooves in walls, and probably more. It can also swim. Many robots can do one of those tasks. This one can do them all. That's quite an accomplishment. This has tremendous potential for the maintenance of fiber optic networks, pipelines, and plumbing in large buildings; and also as a spy device. (I wonder how loud it is?)"

2 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Old news by garett_spencley · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I ordered one of these for my wife as a gift a little while ago. She gave me the weirdest "freaked out" look.

    Yeah kind of like your expression right now ...

  2. Old hat by Lars+Clausen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The ability to climb poles (and legs) is cute, but apart from that, Xerox PARC had a modular robot in 2000 that could not only be a snake, but could reconfigure itself into a ball or a spider to go faster or to traverse difficult terrain. It was extremely nifty, but like so much else from Xerox PARC, they never capitalized much on it.

    -Lars